reader for academic pdf's - Page 2

Latinandgreek · 10-12-2010, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cla

i'm having the same problem. I don't have an e-book reader yet and I need it mainly for reading academic files. Pocketbook seems to be a good option. If anyone has news about it please tell me (when it will be released?)...

I can't wait for it to be released, too. I'd like to read some reviews of it, though, before I pick it up, so I won't be pre-ordering it.

Cla · 10-14-2010, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I can't wait for it to be released, too. I'd like to read some reviews of it, though, before I pick it up, so I won't be pre-ordering it.

it's a wise thing to do. I'll wait for the reviews too.

Nexutix · 10-15-2010, 01:02 AM

the price is too much though...

Cla · 10-15-2010, 08:26 PM

kindle DX is a little cheaper. They are very different from each other. I don't know... it's not easy to choose an ebook!

corona · 10-21-2010, 12:53 AM

"Academic PDFs" covers a lot of territory. Do you mean chemistry, or philosophy? I read a lot of PDF social science articles -- no pictures, in other words -- on my Kobo. I use Calibre to convert them to ePub. Results are anywhere from good-enough-to-read to pretty much perfect. Tables and graphs and stuff though don't really work. But I'm generally very satisfied with this pretty simple technique, and how the results come out on the Kobo.

I don't know about other e-readers, but the straightforward Windows file system access to the Kobo also makes it easy to manage these files. I tend to dump lots of them in haphazardly and then clean up later when I don't need them anymore. So it's easy to just use Windows Explorer or whatever to go in there.

joblack · 10-21-2010, 07:09 PM

Go for the Kindle DX Graphite. Best option right now.

eriksnoopy · 10-26-2010, 02:32 PM

for screen size the DXG has no competitors.. but it lacks reflow, and in my opinion the prs 650 (probably the 950 even more so) does a much better job with pdf-s.. if only we could stretch the screen a little bit..

ofey · 10-29-2010, 07:12 PM

Well I was confronted with this question and I bit the bullet and got a Kindle 3.
For the money I spent (~A$280) which got me a 3G Wifi model and a lighted cover, I think it's heaps worth!!

What I do to the PDFs is actually resize the thing on the Mac. I recognise I cannot read more than 3-4 papers in a day so I have a collection on the Kindle called Endnote. I basically pluck out the 3 or 4 I want to read from my endnote library, resize them to perhaps 110% of the original and I get rid of the hard margins on the Kindle and voila, it's readable.
Now it's not ideal but it's increased the size of the text quite well for me. It's like reading size font 9 on a computer screen. I can always use the zoom function for graphs.

A Kindle DX would have been perfect but the size of the thing is a little too much to be absolutely portable. I do still think the real estate on the kindle 3 can be put to better use and an extra 5mm each way would have made its size better for PDF reading.

luckycharms · 11-03-2010, 07:20 PM

Looking forward to seeing the new ereaders coming out this month - in particular the sony prs-950 and the pocketbook 903.

A quick question about reading pdfs: Why aren't these ereaders able to just display a pdf at any particular magnification, and then have the user scroll it around on the screen (like the hand tool in acrobat)? That would seem to be the most straightforward way to deal with pdf documents that are too big for an ereader screen. I don't get it!

frabjous · 11-03-2010, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckycharms

A quick question about reading pdfs: Why aren't these ereaders able to just display a pdf at any particular magnification, and then have the user scroll it around on the screen (like the hand tool in acrobat)? That would seem to be the most straightforward way to deal with pdf documents that are too big for an ereader screen. I don't get it!

Because e-Ink is a very different technology from LCD (or CRT), and having anything that "scrolls around" would not be fast enough and energy efficient enough to be worth it. There's a reason that you refresh the entire screen at a time and don't just scroll a line at a time with these devices: they use almost all their energy when changing the display. If you were constantly changing it, not only would it require a very different display configuration, it would use far more energy.

luckycharms · 11-03-2010, 09:35 PM

thanks frabjous - makes good sense.

Another followup: in terms of the prs-950 vs. kindle dx for academic pdfs, which would folks go for? perhaps hard to tell with the prs-950 not being out till mid this month...

Nexutix · 11-04-2010, 12:00 PM

Of course 950!
1. You can underline
2. Add notes
3. Browse Wikipedia
4. Good for highly formatted PDFs and to turn through pages fast.
5. Touchscreen makes innovative interface making it like real book.
6. PDF is devided in 3 parts (A4 size) which gives lot of space to scribble around.
7. PDF internal links to different pages work in 950!

And finally, Sony devices have better support for PDFs than Kindle.
so winner is 950.

Latinandgreek · 11-04-2010, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frabjous

Because e-Ink is a very different technology from LCD (or CRT), and having anything that "scrolls around" would not be fast enough and energy efficient enough to be worth it. There's a reason that you refresh the entire screen at a time and don't just scroll a line at a time with these devices: they use almost all their energy when changing the display. If you were constantly changing it, not only would it require a very different display configuration, it would use far more energy.

Can't the new Sony devices scroll around?

Salgueiros · 11-04-2010, 01:07 PM

I have sony readers for my reading of everything non work related, but unfortunately screen size for both 650 or 950 is too small for having an entire journal paper page in the screen so i had to buy the DX. The absence of highlighting and notes is a bummer but reading a journal paper in a reflowed or partitioned page like in the sony is terrible. I wish Sony had a big screen reader. Their touchscreens are amazing!

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10-15-2010, 01:02 AM	#18
Nexutix Reading and reading Posts: 582 Karma: 8250144 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Infibeam Pi, iPod Touch 4G, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, Oneplus One	the price is too much though...

10-15-2010, 08:26 PM	#19
Cla Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: PocketBook 902 pro	kindle DX is a little cheaper. They are very different from each other. I don't know... it's not easy to choose an ebook!

10-21-2010, 12:53 AM	#20
corona Addict Posts: 324 Karma: 25168 Join Date: May 2010 Device: kobo	"Academic PDFs" covers a lot of territory. Do you mean chemistry, or philosophy? I read a lot of PDF social science articles -- no pictures, in other words -- on my Kobo. I use Calibre to convert them to ePub. Results are anywhere from good-enough-to-read to pretty much perfect. Tables and graphs and stuff though don't really work. But I'm generally very satisfied with this pretty simple technique, and how the results come out on the Kobo. I don't know about other e-readers, but the straightforward Windows file system access to the Kobo also makes it easy to manage these files. I tend to dump lots of them in haphazardly and then clean up later when I don't need them anymore. So it's easy to just use Windows Explorer or whatever to go in there.

10-21-2010, 07:09 PM	#21
joblack Wizard Posts: 1,746 Karma: 4382688 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Somewhere on earth Device: Onyx Boox Tab X	Go for the Kindle DX Graphite. Best option right now.

10-26-2010, 02:32 PM	#22
eriksnoopy Connoisseur Posts: 60 Karma: 19754 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Estonia Device: Sony PRS-950 (broken screen) kobo aura hd	for screen size the DXG has no competitors.. but it lacks reflow, and in my opinion the prs 650 (probably the 950 even more so) does a much better job with pdf-s.. if only we could stretch the screen a little bit..

10-29-2010, 07:12 PM	#23
ofey Kindle3 Noob Posts: 12 Karma: 28 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle 3	Well I was confronted with this question and I bit the bullet and got a Kindle 3. For the money I spent (~A$280) which got me a 3G Wifi model and a lighted cover, I think it's heaps worth!! What I do to the PDFs is actually resize the thing on the Mac. I recognise I cannot read more than 3-4 papers in a day so I have a collection on the Kindle called Endnote. I basically pluck out the 3 or 4 I want to read from my endnote library, resize them to perhaps 110% of the original and I get rid of the hard margins on the Kindle and voila, it's readable. Now it's not ideal but it's increased the size of the text quite well for me. It's like reading size font 9 on a computer screen. I can always use the zoom function for graphs. A Kindle DX would have been perfect but the size of the thing is a little too much to be absolutely portable. I do still think the real estate on the kindle 3 can be put to better use and an extra 5mm each way would have made its size better for PDF reading.

11-03-2010, 07:20 PM	#24
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	Looking forward to seeing the new ereaders coming out this month - in particular the sony prs-950 and the pocketbook 903. A quick question about reading pdfs: Why aren't these ereaders able to just display a pdf at any particular magnification, and then have the user scroll it around on the screen (like the hand tool in acrobat)? That would seem to be the most straightforward way to deal with pdf documents that are too big for an ereader screen. I don't get it!

11-03-2010, 09:35 PM	#26
luckycharms Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Glo, PRS-650, iPad 1, iPhone 4S	thanks frabjous - makes good sense. Another followup: in terms of the prs-950 vs. kindle dx for academic pdfs, which would folks go for? perhaps hard to tell with the prs-950 not being out till mid this month...

11-04-2010, 12:00 PM	#27
Nexutix Reading and reading Posts: 582 Karma: 8250144 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Infibeam Pi, iPod Touch 4G, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, Oneplus One	Of course 950! 1. You can underline 2. Add notes 3. Browse Wikipedia 4. Good for highly formatted PDFs and to turn through pages fast. 5. Touchscreen makes innovative interface making it like real book. 6. PDF is devided in 3 parts (A4 size) which gives lot of space to scribble around. 7. PDF internal links to different pages work in 950! And finally, Sony devices have better support for PDFs than Kindle. so winner is 950.

11-04-2010, 01:07 PM	#29
Salgueiros Eudaimonia Posts: 898 Karma: 9164418 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Vancouver, Canada Device: Sony PRS T2, Sony PRS T3, Sony DPT-RP1	I have sony readers for my reading of everything non work related, but unfortunately screen size for both 650 or 950 is too small for having an entire journal paper page in the screen so i had to buy the DX. The absence of highlighting and notes is a bummer but reading a journal paper in a reflowed or partitioned page like in the sony is terrible. I wish Sony had a big screen reader. Their touchscreens are amazing!

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